Corona Virus Vaccine Stocks

The search for a Covid 19 Vaccine for the world’s 6 billion inhabitants continues and we’ve got some great news as vaccine testing trial results are very positive.

Hundreds of billions are being invested in vaccine development globally.  A large number of BioTech companies are vying to win the world’s biggest market for a medical product — the Covid 19 vaccine. The finish line for the great race is in sight now, and while we talk about one big winner, it seems there is a significant enough market for a number of winners.

Companies such as Pfizer, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Novavax have announced successful Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials. Given Pfizer’s successful tests so far in developing antibodies to the virus, they are the clear favorite.  they have two candidate products BNT162b1 and BNT162b2 they are testing in concert with BioNTech.

Seven days after the second dose of BNT162b2 patients were exhibited concentrations of SARS-CoV-2-neutralizing antibodies at concentrations 3.8 times higher than average concentrations of COVID-19 patients that fought off the infection.” from news article/interview by the Fool.com

NovaVax stock price has rocketed the most in the last 6 months, but Pfizer’s stock has not risen much, so Pfizer may have a big opportunity to grow the most.  Let’s not forget Pfizer’s mountain of products and how that huge powerbase might boost their brand name and grow their distribution network around the world.

There’s more for these vaccine companies  to ascertain in safety and efficacy, but it seems clear, that Pfizer is the leader.

Given infection increases are raging out of control as we enter the fall season, the urgency for a successful vaccination product is vital to save lives and start the world’s economy again.  The best vaccine stocks may create many new millionaires, including investors in the stock market.

Here’s a quick look at their stock price 6 months ago compared to today. AstraZeneca and NovaVax are the clear winners in terms of stock equity gains.

  • Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) Today’s stock price: $36.70 . Price 6 months ago: $31.75
  • AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN) Todays Stock Price: 50.17. Price 6 months ago: $7.70
  • GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) Todays Stock Price: 37.64. Price 6 months ago: $37.22
  • Inovio (NASDAQ:INO) Todays Stock Price: 11.60. Price 6 months ago: $7.70
  • Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) Todays Stock Price: 148.88 Price 6 months ago: $128.81
  • Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Todays Stock Price: 70.75 Price 6 months ago: $29.67
  • Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX) Todays Stock Price: 108.35 Price 6 months ago: $14.03
  • Sonofi (NASDAQ:SNY) Todays Stock Price: 50.17 Price 6 months ago: $42.91
Top Vaccine Stocks
Top Vaccine Stocks. Screenshot courtesy of Yahoo Finance.

Predicting which vaccine stocks will outperform from this point on is very difficult.  The business side with its outrageous development costs are just part of it. Manufacturing costs, government safety rules,  and distribution deals provide uncertainty.

Are you too late for AstraZeneca’s stock or J&J?  If J&J’s vaccine tests are successful, you’d have to think they have an excellent distribution capability.

The vaccines still must be developed, manufactured, and distributed via refrigerated transport, so the task of delivering billions of doses is not a simple matter.  As I suggest below, there will be value added revenue opportunities for these companies, including future yearly booster shots.

Vaccine Stock Investing Strategy

Should you look for one winner, a basket of all vaccine companies or just the few companies with the reach and visibility to take advantage of this once in a lifetime medical event? Your choice could change your financial future.

And the company producing a Covid 19 vaccine will see its stock price soar like no other has. I’ll introduce the top 5 companies below with links to their stocks.

AstraZeneca and UK’s Oxford University were granted a $1.2 billion US to generate 300 million doses of  a coronavirus vaccine developed at the University of Oxford.  Some believe they are the front runners to create the first vaccine. However, the first one produced might not necessarily be the big financial winner.

Dow Jones Forecasts Brighten due to Vaccine Hopes

The news of a potential vaccine has boosted the stock market outlook.  One Company, Moderna, has jumped out to a quick lead and into Phase 3 of their trials.  The US government just cut a deal with Moderna to distribute vaccine in the US should the vaccine be successful.

A vaccine reported by Russian authorities has caught the media’s attention, but few vaccine experts are suggesting it is a credible, safe solution.

Moderna has announced a successful trial (minimal test subjects) and the vaccine appears to safely create the right antibody response even with a low 25-microgram dose. That’s good news for all the other companies actually, in that investors were waiting for a buy signal. This might have been it.

Moderna, Inc. listed on the Nasdaq: MRNA) is a biotechnology company pioneering in RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients.

Moderna is now into phase three which will take on more test subjects with the final injections near the end of October to determine the optimal dosage between 25 to 100 micrograms. Test patients developed antibodies to the fight the disease.

Sadly, Moderna’s had trouble recruiting the huge number of subjects needed for regulator approval and it could set vaccine approval back to 1st quarter of 2021.

More Vaccine Companies in the Race

More vaccine companies are making breakthroughs, but it’s important to note that previous disease vaccines have made it through 2 phases only to ultimately fail.  There are no guarantees and Vaccine stocks are a gamble.

Novavax saw its stock price jump 20% by just announcing its first phase clinical trials.  The company announced trial subjects developed anti-spike IgG antibodies after a single dose of vaccine, and many also developing wild-type virus neutralizing antibody responses. After Dose 2, 100% of participants developed wild-type virus neutralizing antibody responses.

3 Canadian companies have also announced successes with initial trials of a vaccine on animals. Ferrets have similar respiratory systems to humans, and a trial by a Saskatchewan research group successfully stopped virus replication in the lungs of all subjects.

Pharma Giant Merck is in the Corona Virus Vaccine sweepstakes. It is developing two different COVID-19 vaccines along with an antiviral compound that is already in early clinical trials.

Here’s the top 10 companies having vaccines in clinical trials. You can see all 124 corona virus vaccine developers at the WHO website.

Covid 19 Vaccines in Clinical Trials. Screenshot courtesy of WHO.

What’s the Payoff on the Big Gamble?

It’s an exciting event playing out, and gamblers in Russia and the UK lacking anything else to bet on, are already taking bets on who generates a vaccine first.

The coronavirus pandemic could cost the global economy between $5.8tn and $8.8tn.  Lloyd’s of London has said it expects coronavirus-related insurance claims to cost it $3bn to $4.3bn  — BBC reports

With the disease ravaging the world’s economies and killing more than 300,000 people worldwide, and the world’s economies continuously depressed, with unemployment and personal suffering unending, we need a Covid 19 vaccine soon. And the race to create the vaccine is on.

The prize could conceivably be a trillion dollar payoff for one company. But it may not be a winner take all situation. Several vaccines winners could appear, and take a big piece of the global vaccine sales market.

The vaccine is considered the top global priority. It’s the virulent nature of the disease that makes it so troublesome and damaging to human life. The need for a vaccine is pushing billions of dollars into finding a cure and it may happen within a year.

Investors should have a gambler’s attitude and plenty of patience to research and pick your winning vaccine developer. Check the stock prices of the hopeful vaccine developers below. There are firms with extensive experience in vaccine development, some big pharma companies with the cash needed to do it, while other newcomers are using brains and new technology to solve the Covid virus code.

How Are Vaccines Made?

Biologists and medical lab researchers either kill or render a virus harmless, then inject it into human patients. The body builds a defense to the virus by building antibodies that block it from entering human cells and multiplying.

Other vaccines introduce agents to starve the virus by blocking something it needs such as a key enzyme. In other cases still, a substance with a similar genetic makeup is injected into a patient, which tricks the body into developing antibodies which will block the real virus.

Learn more about Vaccines at the US CDC website.

 

Who Can Realistically Deliver a Successful Vaccine?

Huge companies like Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson have the financial, production and logistical networks to fulfill manufacturing and distribution. If smaller bio labs actually produce a successful vaccine, they may choose to work with one of these conglomerates to speed delivery through their established global channels.

But let’s not rule out well funded and talented biotech firms who are able to use technology and creativity to perhaps stumble on a vaccine. They all have a creative angle, and the more there are, the sooner the vaccine will be delivered. This is the greatest amount of human talent and funding ever delivered to a medical health threat. And it’s only just starting.

Big Challenges and Doubts

While we all want to be vaccinated, there is the additional challenges of testing, manufacturing it and distributing 7 billion vaccine shots. Further challenges come in the demand for global countries expecting to get vaccines even if they have no money to pay for it.

The country and company that produces the vaccine will have control of the market and of profits. There were accusations that China was trying to steal vaccine data, and in another case trying to buy a US biotech company to obtain it.

Will the Vaccine Formula itself be Given Away?

Will these companies share their data and findings with government and competitors? There are people who believe they will. But when a company invests billions of investors dollars into a vaccine, giving the winning formula away seems too foolish to believe. It’s estimated that Covid 19 has already cost Pharma’s 8% of their value so far.

Any public company will have to recover its costs which will certainly go into the tens of billions of dollars by 2021.

“More than 140 world leaders and other dignitaries on Thursday to sign an open letter to all governments demanding that Covid-19 vaccines be considered a “global good” to be shared equitably — statnews.com report.

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel is quoted in an interview with Business Insider that “There is no world, I think, where we would contemplate to price this higher than other respiratory virus vaccines,”  A vaccine to prevent pneumonia costs about $800.  Some overly hopeful citizens are expecting a vaccine for $20 a shot.

All of these research biotech companies and big pharma companies seem to take a different path to building a vaccine.

The vaccine companies to watch include Pfizer, Inovio, Johnson and Johnson, Moderna, and Sanofi.  Discover more about stocks, great stocks to buy, and stock prediction.  Take a look at the 2021 stock forecast, and for great stock picks on the Dow Jones, NASDAQ, Russell 2000 index, and the S&P indexes.

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